Why Maggie Chapman will be a great MSP

I once went to the leaving dinner of one of Edinburgh University’s Vice Principals. The retiree had been a senior climate scientist, on the UK government climate advisory panel, and the IPPC – as well as a slew of other bodies.

As he circulated the room, said something to one of my friends there, about a [...]

Event Horizon: Beyond the 2010 Election

by Robin McAlpine
You probably think you know the implications of the General Election. I think I know the implications, or at least some of them. But I’m not sure. And therein lies the monumental success (and failure) of the 2010 General Election. It was the natural conclusion of a process of collapse of party politics [...]

Why we need to re-write the Planning Act

Portobello has just emerged from its latest fight. This time it was with developers determined to turn the area into a hub for rubbish collection from Edinburgh and beyond. The developer, Viridor, collects rubbish from around Edinburgh and the Lothians for landfill or incineration at Dunbar. It wants a facility to transfer this rubbish from [...]

How The Scottish Parliament Can Make Fair Votes a Reality

There’s one pressing issue that faces the UK now. That is the response to recession from the Westminster government. As other contributors here have pointed out, the current approach is likely to send the economy back into recession with disastrous effect.
There is, however, an opportunity to change the way the UK selects its governments. I [...]

Why should the biggest party govern us?

All this hung Westminster chat recently allows us Scots to suddenly feel experienced. The idea of confidence and supply was, I think, first discussed at Holyrood by pre-2007 Greens. It is now beginning to enter the Westminster lexicon – busting the idea that only a coalition government can be stable if an election doesn’t deliver [...]

Why I hate the West Wing

I have a terrible confession to make. For someone who enjoys his politics, is intrigued by interpersonal interaction and has a, possibly undue, interest in public administration I hate the West Wing. I’m possibly the only person with this set of interests that can’t stand the programme.
It’s not because I dislike the actors, the production [...]

Phillip Morris, up in smoke

It’s always nice to see the party of family values campaigning for the rights drug dealers.

Now we know the victims of Annabel Goldie’s class war

I mentioned in my post yesterday the Tories’ calls for cuts to various popular initiatives in the Budget; I didn’t, of course, mean that list to be exclusive. No one has the time to list all the cuts the Conservatives want.
Another key one had the limelight today, as Scottish Tory finance spokesman Derek Brownlee repeated [...]

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We are a collaborative blog with both regular and guest writers discussing news, politics and culture from a progressive Scottish perspective.

Editor-in-chief: Mark Ballard
Editors: Gary Dunion, Peter McColl, Adam Ramsay, Alasdair Thompson, Maggie Chapman

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